Hera is Zeus's Seventh Wife... Three Conditions Set Including 'Announce it to the Whole World'

In Greek mythology, Zeus is often depicted as a philanderer. A video from the "Looking at History" channel interprets Zeus's marriages from a different perspective. It notes that as Zeus takes power and goes through the process of establishing and expanding that power, there are instances of marriage; if one strips away the myth and views it through symbols and metaphors, it reveals an ancient method of expanding one's influence through marriage. If Zeus is viewed as a symbol of supreme power, his marriages are interpreted as showing the conditions a supreme ruler must possess.

Hera is the Seventh Wife... Three Conditions Set After the Relationship Began

According to the video, Hera is Zeus's last marriage partner and his seventh wife. This means he had six wives before her. As Hera, the goddess of the household and marriage, there was no way she would marry Zeus, who had already married six times. Since her identity is centered on marriage and the household, accepting behavior like Zeus's would mean the collapse of the family and treating marriage as a joke, which did not align with her nature. Although Hera fled, their relationship eventually proceeded, and it is said that the conditions Hera set afterward can be summarized into three.

First was to announce to the whole world that they were in a marital relationship. The explanation is that previous marriages were merely like registering a marriage, without a procedure to announce the wedding loudly. Second was that he must not have relationships with any other women after this marriage, and third was that he must no longer interact with his previous wives. However, it is said that only the wedding ceremony was kept. The reason Zeus appears as a philanderer is actually because there are more stories following those marriages than the six marriages themselves.

Metis is Wisdom, Athena is National Defense Power

The first wife was a goddess named Metis. She is the goddess who devised the strategy for Zeus when he fought his father, Cronus. Cronus swallowed all his children whenever they were born for fear they might overthrow him, but Metis devised a strategy to give him medicine to make him vomit up all his siblings, and they fought together to win. After sharing power with his siblings, Zeus married Metis, his greatest contributor who helped him, to strengthen and establish his own power. Metis means wisdom and strategy. The video interprets this as a mythological structure stating that a supreme ruler must be wise.

The child born between them is Athena. Athena is the goddess of war and the goddess of strategy, and the goddess of victory who always carries Nike with her. The explanation is that if a supreme ruler possesses wisdom, they gain the power to defend against any invasion of their forces, namely, national defense power.

Themis is Law... Children Leading to Rule of Law, Justice, and Peace

Since wisdom alone was not enough, a second marriage followed. The second wife, Themis, means institution and law. This means that even if a supreme leader is wise, they must exercise power through accurate principles, laws, and institutions rather than acting on whim when carrying out their will. Eunomia, born between them, means the rule of law. The explanation is that the word "anomie," which refers to a state of lawlessness, comes from the Greek "anomia," and if "eu" (like the 'eu' in Utopia) is attached to "nomia," which means systematized and organized law, it means the law is well-observed, which is the rule of law.

The second daughter is Dike, meaning justice, and the third is Eirene, meaning peace. The structure is that if the supreme ruler establishes laws well, the rule of law is achieved, justice is established, and peace is realized. In the video, it is mentioned that if you examine any myth closely, it contains the conditions a community should have, and that the Greeks seem to have made this most interestingly, comparing Zeus's marriage story to a social, political, economic, and cultural textbook. The explanation is that through these successive marriages, the myth is passed down as if the seventh wife, Hera, completes the form.

A comparison with other myths was also made. It is said that the Egyptian gods exist within the framework of Ma'at, the cosmic order, making them very static, and while they marry, they do not marry twice. On the other hand, in Mesopotamian mythology, there is a story where Enki, the god of water and the god of wisdom, marries women across three generations. Regarding why Zeus's marriages are organized in such a way, an interpretation was introduced that the currently known mythology is a kind of final version where the stories of the politically victorious forces have become mainstream. It was also noted that while the Egyptian goddess Hathor is generally depicted as a couple with Horus, explanations varied by region, such as her marrying Sobek in some areas.

Prometheus, Picked as a Respectable God

After discussing how it is difficult to find a truly wonderful god one would actually want to worship in Greek mythology, Prometheus was chosen. This is because he gifted fire to humans, suffered pain for humans, and fought against Zeus to prevent the destruction of humanity.

According to the video, Zeus, having taken power, said he would eliminate humans because they soil the earth and are covered in sin, but Prometheus countered that if they are taught and helped well, they can live well. When Zeus took away the fire, Prometheus stole it and gave it to humans, and eventually, he was hung on Mount Caucasus.

Prometheus, who possesses foresight, told Zeus that he would one day fall from power, and although Zeus interrogated him and sent an eagle, Prometheus held out, saying he would never speak. The video interprets this scene as a confrontation between Zeus, who has everything but is possessed by the desire for power, and Prometheus, who can cry out that his soul is free even while being stripped of everything and bound. The interpretation is that Prometheus attacked the aspect that Zeus fears most.